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Sunday, July 17, 2011

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle is one of those books that is so inspiring. I have enjoyed Michael Pollan's books about food, so I wasn't surprised to enjoy Kingsolver's addition to the genre.

Last summer, Evan and I got a CSA share and drowned in the amount of food we received. This year we decided not to do it, but our local farmers' market will be starting soon so we can buy local veggies at it. My dad has had a garden for more years than I've been around and I've been experimenting in my own. I was interested to read about Kingsolver's gardening.

Kingsolver's book is a memoir about how her family ate local for a year. This included meat. They were living on a family farm and were able to grow a significant amount of food, both for immediate use and to store for the winter. They also bought food at their farmers' market.

One of the criticisms of Animal, Vegetable, Miracle that I read before reading the book said that Kingsolver's experience was totally unrealistic and that she was preachy about it. To say it is unrealistic totally misses the point. Obviously we don't all live on a farm and can't grow food like she was able to. Duh. I've read plenty of memoirs, most commonly travel memoirs that are totally unrealistic for me, but are still fun to read about and put ideas in my head. This book made me think about what I could do. I didn't think Kingsolver was preachy. She laid information out in a clear, readable way.

I loved Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. It was inspiring. If you are interested in food, you should pick it up.